If ever there were justification to drug test the
nation's judges, it would be the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision
upholding the People's Republic of Maryland's ban on most magazine-fed rifles,
including the AR-15, calling them "exceptionally lethal weapons of
war."

Further, the court ruled, "assault weapons and
large-capacity magazines are not protected by the Second Amendment." They
are, the judges said, dangerous.

Judge William B. Traxler Jr., in a blistering dissent,
said the court majority went "to greater lengths than any other court to
eviscerate the constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms."

In the court's incredible stretch to gut the Second
Amendment, 10 of the 14-member bench based in Richmond, Virginia, ignored U.S.
Supreme Court decisions, past and recent, including the landmark Heller case.
They also tossed common sense to the wind and joined other appellate courts
across the nation in crafting their own rules when it comes to the Constitution
and furthering backdoor gun control.

The Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v.
Heller dealt with handguns, even more hated by the left than the evil AR-15.
The court in 2008 decided the case brought by Dick Heller, a District special
police officer who applied for a one-year license for a handgun he wanted to
keep in his home. His application was denied.

In that decision, the high court ruled, 5-4, the Second
Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm "unconnected
with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful
purposes, such as self-defense within the home." It was the high court's
first decision affirming that individual right.

"We are aware of the problem of handgun violence in
this country, and we take seriously the concerns raised by the many amici who
believe that prohibition of handgun ownership is a solution," the majority
opinion's author, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, wrote. "But the enshrinement
of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the
table. These include the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for
self-defense in the home."

In Kolbe v. Hogan, the Fourth Circuit apparently believed
those choices were very much still on the table when it upheld the state's ban
on 45 kinds of "assault weapons" and magazines holding more than 10
cartridges.

Worse, its woeful ignorance about the firearms involved
was staggering. It compared semiautomatic firearms to the fully automatic M16,
saying the difference between the two is "slight."

No, the difference is night and day.

Semiautomatic firearms are designed to fire one shot with
each trigger pull. Millions of them are stuffed into closets and gun cabinets across
the land. They include AR-15s, .22-caliber rifles and pistols, and
larger-caliber, centerfire hunting or target-shooting firearms. Automatic
firearms are designed to fire shot after shot as the trigger is held down, like
a machine gun. They generally are used by the military and some law enforcement
units. Strictly regulated, they must be registered with the federal government.
They are prevalent in movies but rarely used in real crimes.

The semiautomatic AR-15 and its clones are the most
popular rifles in the country. There are perhaps 10 million of them in
circulation. They are modular, accurate and light. They are easy to customize
and accessorize for target shooting, hunting or defense. The Congressional
Research Service says they are involved in less than 2 percent of all crimes
involving guns. All that apparently accounted for nothing with the court.

In 2016, a Fourth Circuit three-judge panel overturned
Maryland's ban, using what is known as heightened scrutiny, the most rigorous
evaluation of a law's constitutionality. The court's en banc decision,
however, reversed that and upheld Maryland's law. That decision, though, was
based on a less rigorous evaluation, something called intermediate scrutiny.

Appeals Judge Robert King said Maryland "has shown
all that is required: a reasonable, if not perfect, fit between the (law) and
Maryland's interest in protecting public safety."

Six other states and the District of Columbia have bans
similar to Maryland's. Second Amendment challenges to bans on assault-style
weapons and high-capacity magazines have been rejected by four appeals courts.

Decision's such as the Fourth Circuit's allow officials
and courts, on a case-by-case basis, to pick and choose among various firearms
in deciding which are safe enough. This one good. That one evil. Oops, it turns
out they all are evil. Allowing such an abridgment of the Constitution, such a
bow to bureaucratic subjectivity, is a very long step in the wrong direction.

It is yet another example of activist courts engaging in
irrational, under-the-radar gun control that ignores the law of the land and
congressional intent to promulgate a political agenda.

Talk about dangerous …

4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

Michael F. Bennet
was a clerk for the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the 4th Circuit, and is married to Susan D. Daggett.

Note: Susan D. Daggett
is married to Michael F. Bennet, and
was an attorney for the Natural
Resources Defense Council.

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Sam on Bob Harden Show

Who Is Aristotle the Hun

"Aristotle the Hun" was the name given to me more than 30 years ago when a friend noticed that in spite of my intellect I was still an Iowa farm boy.

Rev. Sam Sewell, is Director of Best Self USA, a Pastoral Psychotherapist, serves on the faculty of Naples Community Hospital as an instructor for Clinical Pastoral Education, President of the Theological Center in Naples, a member of Mensa where he serves as Gifted Youth Coordinator, a U.S. Navy Veteran, and a Member of the Association For Intelligence Officers. He is a frequent commentator on mental health and religious issues.His award winning research on family issues is published in several languages. Member of Sigma Delta Chi Honor Society

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Quotation Gallery

"Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men."- St. Augustine

"A new idea is first condemned as ridiculous, and then dismissed as trivial, until finally it becomes what everybody knows." -

William James

"This is the real task before us: to reassert our commitment as a nation to a law higher than our own, to renew our spiritual strength. Only by building a wall of such spiritual resolve can we, as a free people, hope to protect our own heritage and make it someday the birthright of all men." --Ronald Reagan

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."-- Edward Abbey

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."John Stuart Mill

"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government." ~~~George Washington

"I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University." William F. Buckley, Jr.

"Conservatives are enemies of the government. Liberals are enemies of the nation because they are not enemies of the government."Aristotle the Hun

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"Albert Einstein

"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning how to dance in the rain." ANON

"That government is best which governs least."Thomas Paine

“A nation that substitutes emotion and empathy for rational thought will eventually digress into the Dark Ages,”Congressman Steve King (R-IA),

INTEGRITY: The highest courage is to dare to be ourself in the face of adversity. Choosing ethics over convenience and truth over popularity means there is never a wrong time to do the right thing.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.

The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

They may be more likely to go to Heaven for good intentions yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.~ C. S. Lewis

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." ANON

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The government is conspiring against the citizens. The citizens have pitchforks, torches, tea bags, tea parties, Grand Juries and the Constitution. The government doesn't stand a chance!

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